Katrine Ottosen of CALLmeKAT recommends The Zombies

Katrine Ottosen’s recommendation: “The combination of melodic sensibility, fresh youthfulness, musicianship, arrangements and substance in The Zombies’ music has floored me since the very first time I heard it. It is actually not so long ago! For my birthday last year my boyfriend was making a playlist a day or two before the party and when he played it back to me, I heard some of the songs off Odessey and Oracle (yup, the odd spelling of odyssey was a misspelling from the cover designers’ side on the artwork, so it stayed!). I just flipped out! I couldn’t believe I’d never known about this sensational 1960′s English band before who recorded in the Apple Studios – am I from another planet?!?”

Not familiar with The Zombies? Katrine suggests you start here: “For my first American tour in 2012, which took us cross-country, we listened to Odessey and Oracle almost every day. It was my brother and I in a small rental car just riding there on the highway from town to town and show to show listening to good music for hours and hours – and this was one of the recurring albums we played (along with Bob Dylan’s Desire album!). I can just listen to this album over and over and over. The keyboard solos always kill me!! Especially the doubled organ solo on Time Of The Season. I read in the liner notes of the album that these two separate solos ended up being laid on top of each other – originally because of a coincidence: they played both solos back simultaneously by mistake when it was played back and it sounded great, so they were layered into the final mix. Great!”

About our guest author, Katrine Ottosen: Katrine is the Daanish singer/songwriter that fronts CallMeKat, a lo-fi outfit that has collected tons of praise and is cementing a hard core global fan base. In 2008, she released an EP and the Fall Down long player on her own Pixiebooth label. NPR responded by calling her “…just mesmerizing” and Nylon and Interview Magazine were just as complimentary. Her newest effort, Where the River Turns Black shows her building on the minimalist sound of her first two records and enlisting the help from bigger names like bass player Sara Lee (Gang Of Four, B 52’s) and Helgi Jonsson (Sigur Ros). The result is undeniable (Sunny Day is playing non-stop at Rock Torch HQ during this dreary January cold stretch) and the media has continued to swoon as the album has collected Album of the Month nods from Elle magazine and other blogs across the Web. Her live shows have become stunning yet intimate ‘in-the-know’ gatherings, so be sure to scan her appearances listings page for the latest tour dates. Her shows are a lock and are not to be missed.